U.S. men go 0-9 in first round

PARIS (AP) -- Robby Ginepri heard the news at breakfast before heading out to play yesterday: He was the last U.S. man in the French Open.

PARIS (AP) -- Robby Ginepri heard the news at breakfast before heading out to play yesterday: He was the last U.S. man in the French Open.

By early afternoon, he was gone, too, making Americans 0-9 in the first round, the country's worst showing at Roland Garros in at least 40 years.

"They all wanted to win, like I did," Ginepri said. "And we're walking away with a loss. So it's tough."

It's the first time at any Grand Slam tournament since the 1973 Australian Open that no man representing the United States will play in the second round of singles -- and it's worth noting that no Americans entered that Australian Open.

U.S. men went 0-8 on the French Open's red clay Tuesday, with losses by No. 3-seeded Andy Roddick, No. 8 James Blake, Vince Spadea, Justin Gimelstob, Amer Delic, Robert Kendrick, Sam Querrey and Michael Russell.

"It kind of all happened fast," said Venus Williams, one of five American women still around.

The 48th-ranked Ginepri, a semifinalist at the 2005 U.S. Open, might have joined the exodus Tuesday night, but his match against Diego Hartfield of Argentina was suspended because of darkness after they split the first two sets.

When they resumed play yesterday, Ginepri won the third set and went ahead 2-0 in the fourth, with Delic and Kendrick offering support from the 259-seat bleachers alongside Court 8. But Hartfield slowly took control as Ginepri's unforced errors mounted, and the final score was 6-4, 1-6, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2.

In other action, Roger Federer overcame some late trouble to reach the third round, beating Thierry Ascione 6-1, 6-2, 7-6 (8).

Federer, bidding for a fourth straight major title and a career Grand Slam, needed four match points in the tiebreaker.